There is concern about lack of financial literacy and need for financial literacy education, but little or no attempt to understand their nature. Three questions were asked: 'What is financial literacy?', 'What is financial literacy education?' and 'What might be the components of an effective financial literacy curriculum?'. Adopting an inductive grounded theory approach and a pragmatist philosophy, in association with real-world organisations such as the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE), the Financial Services Authority (FSA), and the National Research and Development Centre for adult literacy and numeracy (NRDC), empirical data was collected from surveys, observation and interviews. This was the first time that: perceptions of financial advisers in England on financial literacy were systematically analysed; financial literacy education provision in England was examined using the FSA framework; financial literacy education for financial literacy providers was the subject of a study; a financial literacy curriculum was categorised using the FSA's baseline survey areas; and financial literacy curriculum components were explored within a new synthesis of 'Competency Based Action learning (CoBAl)'. It was found that often financial literacy was misunderstood, financial literacy education interventions ineffective, financial literacy practitioners unqualified, and financial literacy curricula simplistic. Public policy needs to be directed towards developing a more rigorous and aspirational form of financial literacy education that would facilitate more effective outcomes. Financial literacy is more than information or capability; it is the demonstration of competencies in actual performance in the financial world. Financial literacy educational interventions need to be multidimensional and set within the framework of adult learning and not that of children learning within a formal educational system. A financial literacy curriculum that synthesises components relating to knowledge, skills and attitudinal competencies with action learning in the real-world context is likely to lead to the generation of more effective financial experiences.